T  N 


52M 


•        I 


BULLETIN 


OF   THJ3 


DEPARTMENT  OF  MINING  AND  METALLURGY, 

ClNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Present  Problems  in  the  Training  of 
Mining  Engineers, 


DR.  S.  B.  CHRISTY 


\i'r,];   RI:AI>  BEFORE  THF  AND  SCIENCES, 

ALSO  BEFORE  THE  AMERICAN   INSTITUTE 
•IF  MINI\(T  ENGINEERS,  SEPTEMBER,  1004. 


O 
O 
CO 


1905. 


GIFT  OF 


[TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN   INSTITUTE  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.] 

.iiA*-**3  :  :>i    \:        -'' 


Ov  :..-/.\s 

Present  Problems  in  the  Training  of  Mining  Engineers.* 

BY  DR.  SAMUEL  B.  CHRISTY,  PROFESSOR  OF  MINING  AND  METALLURGY, 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY,    CAL. 


"  THE  man  is  always  greater  than  his  work."  The  training 
of  the  men  who  are  to  develop  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
world  is  the  most  important  problem  connected  with  mining 
engineering.  It  becomes  ever  more  important  to  civilization  as 
the  mineral  wealth  of  the  earth  approaches  exhaustion.  I  have 
therefore  decided  to  consider  a  few  of  the  more  important 
problems  arising  in  the  training  of  the  mining  engineer,  and 
especially  those  arising  in  America. 

THE  PECULIAR  NATURE  OF  MINERAL  WEALTH. 

Mining  and  Agriculture  are  the  two  fundamental  arts.  With- 
out the  latter  our  existence  would  be  precarious ;  without  the 
former,  our  civilization  impossible.  Agriculture  furnishes  that 
regular  supply  of  food  and  raiment  which  leads  to  the  growth 
of  large  communities  in  which  cultivated  leisure  first  becomes 
possible;  while  mining  furnishes  the  metallic  thread  from 
which  is  woven  that  complex  fabric  we  call  civilization. 

But  in  these  two  arts  the  conditions  for  success  are  widely 
different.  Most  of  the  crops  that  the  farmer  reaps  may  be  har- 
vested year  after  year,  and  the  proper  fertilizers  being  added, 
he  may  continue  the  annual  harvest  indefinitely,  while,  as  a  re- 
sult of  cultivation,  his  farm  becomes  yearly  more  valuable. 

But  the  crop  the  miner  reaps  can  be  harvested  but  once  in 
the  history  of  the  race.  Our  mineral  wealth  has  taken  unknown 
ages  to  mature  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth.  The  ripened  fruit 
can  be  plucked  but  once.  There  are  no  fertilizers  for  worked 
out  mines.  It  never  pays  to  work  over  a  mine  that  has  been 

*  Presented  at  the  Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
Exposition,  St.  Louis,  September,  1904,  and  at  the  Meeting  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  held  at  the  same  place  and  date. 

[1] 


321307 


980   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

"  robbed/"  either  th'nb^gH  ignorance  or  lack  of  skill ;   and  a 
worked  out.  ;rmjxe  ,ia  utterly'  worthless. 

These  "cfiflfereitees"  bejivee.  n.  .the  two  kinds  of  natural  wealth 
have  been  long  recognized,  and  have  led  in  the  old  world  to  a 
very  conservative  policy  in  the  utilization  of  mineral  wealth. 

Though  the  fragmentary  history  of  primitive  mining-law  is 
full  of  contradictions,  it  would  seem  that  the  development  of 
the  mineral  wealth  of  the  world  was  at  first  everywhere  due  to 
the  free  initiative  of  the  miner,  whose  exertions  were  stimulated 
by  the  right  to  possess  what  his  energies  discovered.  But  every- 
where in  the  old  world  the  mailed  hand  of  the  sovereign  soon 
seized  this  important  source  of  wealth  and  power.  It  was  used 
at  first  exclusively  for  his  own  benefit,  but  as  more  enlightened 
views  of  the  duty  of  the  sovereign  to  his  people  spread  through 
Europe  at  the  end  of  the  middle  ages,  these  special  rights  and 
privileges  have  been  used  more  and  more  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  people.  At  the  present  time  in  some  of  the  continental 
countries  individual  initiative  and  ownership  has  asserted  itself 
once  more;  still,  it  is  generally  true  that  in  most  of  the  coun- 
tries of  continental  Europe  the  mines  are  either  owned  or  are 
worked  under  the  direction  of  the  government.  In  these  mat- 
ters the  policy  of  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  has  been,  in 
general,  intermediate  between  that  of  the  United  States  and 
of  continental  Europe.  Hence,  in  what  follows  I  shall  dwell 
chiefly  on  the  differences  between  Continental  and  American 
customs. 

CONTINENTAL  AND  AMERICAN  MINING-SCHOOLS. 

When  European  mining-schools  were  first  organized  they 
also  came  naturally  under  government  control,  and  there  con- 
sequently resulted  a  close  union  between  the  mines  and  the 
mining-schools.  This  in  turn  led  to  many  other  important 
consequences.  A  regular  career  was  opened  for  the  graduates 
of  the  mining-schools  either  by  their  direct  employment  in 
mines  operated  by  the  government  or  in  the  inspection  and 
direction  of  the  working  of  mines  under  government  control. 
As  a  consequence  of  this  policy,  well-trained  men  have  always 
had  the  management  of  the  mines  under  a  sort  of  civil  service 
system.  And  also  a  wise  conservation  of  the  mineral  wealth 
of  these  countries  has  resulted;  the  mines  are  worked  syste- 

[2] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   981 

matically  and  have  often  kept  producing  a  steady  output  for 
several  hundred  years,  while  in  our  country  they  would  have 
been  worked  out  and  abandoned  in  one  or  two  decades.  While, 
according  to  our  ideas,  there  are  drawbacks  to  the  Continental 
policy,  it  certainly  lends  a  restraining  influence  to  the  natural 
uncertainties  of  mining  life ;  it  gives  a  more  certain  tenure  of 
office  to  the  mining  officials ;  and,  consequently,  results  in  a 
more  conservative  policy  in  the  management.  It  effects  a  more 
complete  extraction  of  all  the  ore  in  the  deposit,  a  better  avoid- 
ance of  wastes  and  a  more  complete  utilization  of  all  the  side 
products.  On  the  whole,  the  system,  when  wisely  adminis- 
tered, leads  to  excellent  results. 

Its  effects  on  the  early  development  of  the  mining-schools 
were  also  favorable.  The  close  relation  between  the  mines  and 
the  mining-schools  made  it  easy  for  the  one  to  assist  the  other- 
The  graduates  of  the  mining-schools  were  as  sure  of  employ- 
ment in  an  honorable  profession  as  are  the  graduates  from  our 
government  military  and  naval  academies  at  West  Point  and 
Annapolis.  Historically,  this  connection  has  lent  the  air  of 
distinction  that  clings  to  the  profession  of  the  mining  engineer 
apart  from  his  function  as  a  mere  money-getter. 

On  the  Continent  two  grades  of  mining-schools  have  grown 
up.  The  Bergschule  and  the  Bergakademie.  The  Bergschule  trains 
working  miners  for  the  duties  of  mine  foremen,  while  the  Berg- 
akademie trains  young  men  of  the  educated  class  for  the  duties 
of  the  mining  engineer. 

The  system  here  outlined  possesses  many  advantages  and  is 
admirably  adapted  to  the  countries  where  it  originated.  But 
it  would  be  impossible  in  America.  In  the  first  place  our  gov- 
ernment gives  away  its  mines  and  does  not  attempt  to  control 
either  them  or  the  mining-schools.  No  official  connection  either 
exists  or  is  possible  between  them.  Moreover,  though  there  is 
much  to  be  said  in  its  favor,  the  sharp  distinction  drawn  be- 
tween the  Bergschule  and  the  Bergakademie  in  Europe  is  at  vari- 
ance with  American  ideals  of  democracy. 

It  has  become  an  axiom  with  us  that  not  only  genius,  but 
also  talent,  ability  and  capacity  of  any  kind,  are  too  precious 
to  the  entire  community  to  allow  them  to  go  to  waste.  We 
err,  indeed,  by  going  to  the  other  extreme.  But  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  wonderful  industrial  progress  of  America  is 

[3] 


982   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

largely  due  to  that  equality  of  opportunity  that  is  here  practi- 
call$  open  to  every  young  man  of  ability. 

THE  AMERICAN  TEMPERAMENT. 

It  has  often  been  claimed  that  the  American  temperament  is 
due  to  our  peculiar  climatic  conditions.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
nearly  all  the  climates  of  the  globe  characterize  our  country. 
And  in  order  to  disprove  this  theory  one  has  only  to  cross  the 
narrow  line  that  bounds  our  country  either  to  the  north  or  to 
the  south  to  find  a  relief  from  the  strenuosity  of  the  American 
temperament.  The  American  temperament  is  due,  not  to  cli- 
matic conditions,  but  to  a  mental  attitude  toward  life.  When 
a  man  feels  that  his  future  depends  not  so  much  upon  his  own 
efforts,  but  mainly  upon  the  position  to  which  he  was  born,  he 
is,  if  not  contented  with  his  lot,  at  least  more  likely  to  be  rec- 
onciled to  it;  for  he  feels  it  idle  to  waste  himself  in  useless 
effort.  But,  if  you  can  convince  such  a  man  that  there  is  no 
limit  to  his  ambition  but  that  of  his  own  powers,  you  have  lired 
him  with  the  most  powerful  stimulant  that  can  influence  human 
nature.  It  is  this  stimulant,  working  day  and  night  for  over  a 
century  upon  men  descended  from  every  race  in  Europe,  that 
has  produced  the  American  temperament. 

It  is  a  temperament  that  was  not  unknown  in  Greece  in  its 
great  democratic  days.  Republican  Rome  felt  it,  too.  But  in 
monarchies  its  influence  is  mostly  confined  to  the  army  and  the 
navy.  For  in  war  times  the  best  man  must  be  had  regardless 
of  his  birth.  Napoleon  overran  Europe  ty  declaring  to  his 
men :  "  Every  soldier  carries  the  Marshall's  baton  in  his 
knapsack." 

THE  ROLE  OF  "  THE  PRACTICAL  MINER  "  IN  AMERICA. 

Nowhere  in  America  has  this  influence  been  more  keenly  felt 
than  in  the  mining  industry,  particularly  in  the  Western  States. 
The  policy  of  our  government  in  throwing  open  to  the  hardy 
prospector  its  ownership  in  the  mineral  wealth  of  these  States 
has  stimulated  men  without  previous  technical  education  and 
training  to  accomplish  what  in  older  countries  would  be  re- 
garded as  physical  impossibilities. 

It  is  true  that  the  path  has  been  marked  with  waste  of  money, 
labor  and  life.  Blunders,  failures  there  have  been,  and  still 

[4] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   983 

are,  innumerable.  But  the  accomplishment  is  all  the  more  re- 
markable when  we  recognize  these  facts,  for  it  testifies  to  the 
almost  superhuman  energy  with  which  these  obstacles  have 
been  overcome. 

We  are  greatly  indebted  to  the  old  world  for  its  contributions 
to  the  mining  and  metallurgic  art,  but  we  are  beginning  to  re- 
pay the  loan  with  generous  interest.  And,  to  tell  the  truth,  it 
is  largely  due  to  the  plain  average  American,  without  college 
education  or  training,  that  many  of  these  advances  have  been 
made.  Every  one  who  has  mixed  much  with  American  miners 
has  met  and  honored  many  such  uncrowned  kings.  And  unless 
the  graduate  of  American  mining-schools  is  ready  and  willing  to  meet 
with  this  kind  of  competition  without  fear  or  favor,  he  will  surely  and 
deservedly  fail. 

This  was  the  first  great  problem  that  confronted  the  Ameri- 
can mining-schools  and  it  has  proved  their  greatest  advantage. 
There  is  no  royal  road  for  their  graduates.  The}^  cannot  de- 
pend on  the  government  for  places  in  the  mines,  because  the 
government  neither  owns,  works,  nor  attempts  to  control  the 
mines.  Neither  can  they  look  to  their  diplomas  as  a  guarantee 
of  employment. 

The  American  attitude  on  this  question  has  hitherto  been 
very  different  from  the  European.  Credentials,  degrees,  di- 
plomas and  recommendations  that  in  Europe  carry  great  weight, 
in  America  often  receive  but  scant  attention.  The  American 
often  amuses  himself  with  titles,  but  deep  down  in  his  nature  is 
an  instinctive  distrust  of  anyone  who  takes  them  seriously. 
Among  the  men  who  have  done  most  to  develop  the  mineral 
wealth  of  our  country  this  feeling  is  particularly  strong.  What 
a  man  is,  is  more  important  to  them  than,  Who  he  is.  What 
a  man  knows  interests  them  but  little;  it  concerns  them  much 
more,  what  use  he  can  make  of  this  knowledge. 

Herbert  Spencer,  a  radical  in  so  many  of  his  opinions,  was 
quite  in  sympathy  with  this  point  of  view.  I  quote  from  his 
Autobiography,  vol.  i.,  p.  199,  beginning  with  a  passage  from  a 
letter  to  Herbert  Spencer  from  his  father. 

" '  I  am  glad  you  find  your  inventive  powers  are  beginning 
to  develop  themselves.  Indulge  a  grateful  feeling  for  it. 
Recollect,  also,  the  never-ceasing  pains  taken  with  you  on  that 
point  in  early  life.' '  Herbert  Spencer  then  adds  : 

[5] 


984   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

"  The  last  sentence  is  quoted  not  only  in  justice  to  my  father, 
but  also  as  conveying  a  lesson  to  educators.  Though  the  re- 
sults which  drew  forth  his  remark  were  in  the  main  due  to 
that  activity  of  the  constructive  imagination  which  I  inherited 
from  him,  yet  his  discipline  during  my  boyhood  and  youth 
doubtless  served  to  increase  it.  Culture  of  the  humdrum  sort, 
given  by  those  who  ordinarily  pass  for  teachers  would  have  left 
the  faculty  undeveloped." 

Footnote  by  Mr.  Spencer.  "Let  me  name  a  significant  fact,  published  while 
the  proof  of  this  paper  is  under  correction.  In  The  Speaker  for  April  P,  1892,  Mr. 
Poulteney  Bigelow  gives  an  account  of  an  interview  with  Mr.  Edison,  the  cele- 
brated American  inventor.  Here  are  some  quotations  from  it :  To  my  question 
as  to  where  he  found  the  best  young  men  to  train  as  his  assistants,  he  answered 

emphatically  :  '  The  college-bred  ones  are  not  worth  a !     I  don't  know  why, 

but  they  don't  seem  able  to  begin  at  the  beginning  and  give  their  whole  heart  to 
the  work.'  Mr.  Edison  did  not  conceal  his  contempt  for  the  college  training  of 
the  present  day  in  so  far  as  it  failed  to  make  boys  practical  and  fit  to  earn  their 
living.  With  this  opinion  may  be  joined  two  startling  facts  ;  the  one  that  Mr. 
Edison,  probably  the  most  remarkable  inventor  who  ever  lived,  is  himself  a  self- 
trained  man  ;  and  the  other  that  Sir  Benjamin  Baker,  the  designer  and  constructor 
of  the  Forth  Bridge,  the  grandest  and  most  original  bridge  in  the  world,  received 
no  regular  engineering  education." 

Mr.  Spencer  might  have  added  himself  to  this  list  of  remark- 
able self-made  men,  for  his  schooling,  though  excellent  as  far  as 
it  went,  was  very  meager,  and  he  made  himself  what  he  came 
to  be. 

In  the  words:  "/  don't  know  ivhy,  but  they  don't  seem  able  to 
begin  at  the  beginning  and  give  their  whole  heart  to  the  work"  Mr. 
Edison  has  put  his  finger  with  singular  acuteness  on  the  prin- 
cipal failing  of  improperly  trained  college  students.  The  reason 
why  they  are  not  willing  "  to  begin  at  the  beginning  and  give 
their  whole  heart  to  the  work  "  is  because  their  education  has 
often  been  so  exclusively  theoretical  that  they  are  filled  with 
the  conceit  of  learning,  and  they  have  an  inordinate  idea  of 
their  untried  abilities.  Hence  their  unwillingness  "  to  begin 
at  the  beginning."  They  feel  that  they  ought  to  begin  at  the 
end  and  be  put  in  charge  of  everything.  If,  in  their  training, 
theory  and  practice  had  gone  hand  in  hand,  this  conceit,  which 
is  natural  to  all  young  men,  would  have  been  soon  dissipated 
by  the  hard  realities  of  practice,  and  the  young  men  would 
have  been  more  willing  "  to  begin  at  the  beginning,"  and  more 
ready  and  able  "  to  give  their  whole  heart  to  the  work." 

[6] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   985 

At  the  same  time  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  Mr.  Edison 
must  have  heen  unfortunate  in  his  choice  of  "  college-bred  as- 
sistants," or  in  the  colleges  that  trained  them  ;  for  in  opposition 
to  his  experience  may  be  quoted  the  practice  of  a  large  number 
of  his  important  rivals  in  the  electrical  business  and  of  an  in- 
creasing number  of  iron  and  steel,  railway,  bridge  construction 
and  mining  and  smelting  companies,  to  draw  upon  the  gradu- 
ates of  engineering  schools  for  their  assistants;  and,  where  they 
wisely  insist  on  the  men  beginning  at  the  bottom  and  working 
their  way  up  according  to  merit,  the  results  have  been,  on  the 
whole,  more  and  more  satisfactory  as  the  engineering  schools 
have  adjusted  themselves  more  closely  to  their  environment. 
I  have  given  these  strong  statements  of  the  failings  of  college- 
bred  men,  not  to  endorse  them,  but  because  they  contain  an 
important  truth  that  must  be  recognized  and  met. 

This  condition  of  public  opinion  has  from  the  very  first 
forced  the  American  mining- schools  to  stand  on  their  own 
merits.  Whatever  success  they  have  achieved  has  been  due  to 
this  hard  necessity.1  The  atmosphere  surrounding  European 
mining-schools  is  so  different  from  that  in  America  that  grad- 
uates from  such  schools  have  always  found  in  America  much 


1  I  append  in  this  connection  the  following  concise  and  caustic  note  from  the 
Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  p.  403,  June  12,  1880,  which  shows  the  condition 
of  affairs  in  America  only  25  years  ago.  The  hope  expressed  in  the  last  paragraph 
has  since  been  largely  realized  to  the  benefit  of  all  concerned. 

"  A  correspondent  writes  us,  asking  '  If  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  be  a  gradu- 
ate of  a  school  of  mines  before  being  able  to  engage  in  the  business  of  a  mining 
engineer.'  Certainly  not ;  in  fact,  before  engaging  in  the  business  of  mining  en- 
gineering it  does  not  appear  to  be  absolutely  necessary  that  a  man  should  know 
anything  at  all,  as  our  correspondent  can  very  well  satisfy  himself  by  visiting 
nine  out  of  ten  of  the  mines  nearest  to  him,  wherever  he  may  be.  Had  our  cor- 
respondent asked,  whether  it  would  be  desirable  that  a  man  should  be  a  graduate 
of  a  school  of  mines  before  engaging  in  mining  engineering,  we  should  have 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  course  of  study  in  a 
school  of  mines  is  calculated  to  give  the  elementary  education  necessary  for  a 
mining  engineer,  and,  other  things  being  equal,  should  give  its  recipient  an  ad- 
vantage over  those  who  have  learned  the  business  only  in  practice.  The  course 
of  study  in  a  school  of  mines  is  not,  however,  sufficient  to  qualify  a  mining  engi- 
neer to  take  charge  of  important  works  ;  but  it  forms  an  excellent  foundation 
upon  which  to  build  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  business. 

"Many  of  our  mines  are  now  under  the  direction  of  competent  engineers  and 
the  results  of  this  policy  are  justifying  the  hope  that,  before  very  long,  all  com- 
panies of  good  standing  will  place  their  mines  in  charge  of  men  specially  trained 
for  the  discharge  of  the  responsible  and  important  duties  of  a  mining  engineer." 

[7] 


986   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

to  be  unlearned.  The  American  mining-schools  have  already 
adapted  themselves  so  well  to  their  environment  that  this  year, 
for  the  first  time  in  nearly  a  century,  there  were  no  American 
mining  students  in  the  great  Saxon  Mining-School  at  Freiberg. 
And  already  some  of  the  American  mining-schools  have  ex- 
ceeded in  wealth,  in  equipment  and  in  attendance  this  most 
famous  of  all  mining-schools. 

Is  THEORETICAL  TRAINING  WORTH  WHILE? 

But,  it  may  be  urged,  if  practical  men  without  theoretical 
training  have  accomplished  so  much,  what  is  the  use  of  theo- 
retical training?  Why  not  confine  the  education  of  the  min- 
ing engineer  to  the  purely  practical  part,  omitting  all  the 
theory  ?  The  answer  is  not  far  to  reach.  The  purely  practi- 
cal man  has  indeed  accomplished  wonders,  but  at  the  cost  of 
enormous  waste  of  money,  labor  and  human  lives.  For  every 
success  that  he  has  made  there  are  a  thousand  failures  which 
only  the  thoughtful  notice.  There  is  no  profession  where  prac- 
tical experience  is  more  essential  than  in  mining,  but  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  sound  scientific  training  is  even  more  indispensable. 
A  hard-headed  Arizona  miner  once  put  the  matter  very  tersely 
when  the  superiority  of  the  "  practical  man  "  was  being  strongly 
urged,  by  saying:  "I  have  had  thirty  years'  practical  experi- 
ence in  mining,  and  I  would  give  twenty-five  of  those  years  to 
have  had  a  good  technical  education  to  begin  with."  He  was 
clearly  right,  for  a  man  well  trained  in  fundamentals  has  a 
broader  grasp  and  can  more  intelligently  and  rapidly  utilize 
his  experience  than  a  man  without  this  training. 

Either  theory  or  practice  alone  is  helpless ;  united  they  are 
invincible.  And  the  brilliant  success  of  the  American  mining 
engineer  in  so  many  fields  has  been  because  these  two  impor- 
tant elements  have  been  so  thoroughly  blended  in  his  training. 

SPECIALIZATION,  How  MUCH  AND  WHEN? 
This  problem  arises  from  the  great  breadth  of  training 
which  has  been  necessary  to  the  American  mining  engineer. 
Like  the  soldier  or  sailor,  he  must  go  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
His  work  often  lies  beyond  the  borders  of  civilization,  where, 
like  Prospero  upon  his  lonely  isle,  he  must  conjure  up  his  re- 
sources from  the  vasty  deep ;  and  he  must  act  in  turn  as  geol- 

[8] 


PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINING    OF    MINING    ENGINEERS.       987 

ogist  and  as  civil,  mechanical,  hydraulic,  electrical,  mining  or 
metallurgical  engineer.  The  problem  is  :  What  degree  of  spe- 
cialization shall  be  undertaken  in  an  undergraduate  mining 
course  ?  Shall  we  endeavor  to  turn  out  at  graduation  specialists, 
each  completely  equipped  for  work  in  some  narrow  line,  or  shall 
we  rather  attempt  to  establish  a  broad  basal  training  in  the 
physical  sciences  on  which  the  future  engineer  may  safely  build, 
as  circumstances  may  require  ? 

The  former  system  is  the  European  practice,  such  parallel 
courses  as  mining  engineering  (further  subdivided  into  coal- 
and  metal-mining),  metallurgical  engineering  (also  subdivided 
into  two  branches),  mine-surveying,  mine-geology,  and  the 
like,  being  commonly-recognized  departments  within  which 
the  student  specializes  in  an  undergraduate  course. 

In  an  old  community,  where  the  mines  are  under  government 
control,  and  customs  have  crystallized,  such  a  specialization  is 
wise.  Each  student  can  estimate  with  certainty  the  need  for  the 
specialty  he  chooses,  and  be  sure  of  employment  in  his  own  line. 

But  under  American  conditions  (with  a  few  notable  excep- 
tions, where  conditions  have  become  relatively  stable),  it  is  un- 
safe to  specialize  too  soon  and  on  too  narrow  a  basis.  Here 
the  mere  specialist,  outside  of  his  specialty,  is  as  helpless  as  a 
hermit  crab  outside  of  his  shell,  and  unless  he  possesses  the 
ability  to  adapt  himself  speedily  to  a  rapidly  changing  environ- 
ment, is  sure  to  go  under.  The  present  age  in  America  is  one 
of  rapid  change  in  all  industrial  and  engineering  methods,  such 
as  has  never  been  seen  in  the  world  before.  Old  established 
processes  are  being  continually  swept  aside  and  replaced  by 
now  ones.  These  changes  occur  with  kaleidoscopic  speed  and 
unexpectedness;  and  the  man  who  has  painfully  armed  himself 
with  precedent  and  ancient  lore  finds  himself  hopelessly  beaten 
before  he  can  even  make  a  start  in  the  race.  The  American 
has  always  been  characterized  by  his  fertility  of  resource  and 
power  of  adaptation.  This  has  been  his  strength ;  his  weakness 
has  been  his  impatience  to  plunge  into  practice  without  a  suf- 
ficiently broad  and  deep  scientific  training. 

FUNDAMENTALS  FIRST. 

I  believe  that  we  can  trust  to  the  American  instinct  of  adap- 
tability without  much  further  attention.  But  that  which  is 

[9] 


988   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

most  necessary,  is  to  insist  more  and  more  on  a  solid  foundation 
of  scientific  training  to  begin  with.  If  we  can  secure  for  the 
American  mining  student  a  foundation  training  broad,  deep 
and  thorough  in  mathematics,  physics  and  chemistry,  he  needs 
little  else  to  make  him  invincible.  The  mining  engineer  must 
have  a  broader  basal  training  than  either  the  civil  or  the  me- 
chanical engineer,  even  though  he  specialize  less.  Mathe- 
matics, physics,  and  chemistry  are  necessary  for  all  engineers ; 
but  for  the  civil  engineer  mathematics  is  fundamental,  for  the 
mechanical  engineer  physics  is  equally  so,  while  for  the  mining 
engineer  we  must  not  only  add  physics,  but  also  chemistry, 
with  her  closely  related  allies  mineralogy  and  geology. 

The  training  of  the  mining  engineer  cannot  be  too  thorough 
in  all  these  subjects.  Each  is  an  essential  support  to  any  super- 
structure that  he  may  desire  to  build  in  the  future. 

Mathematics  should  include  the  differential  and  integral  cal- 
culus, the  theory  of  probabilities  and  the  methods  and  criteria 
of  approximations.  A  firm  grasp  of  space-relations  as  devel- 
oped in  descriptive  geometry  is  peculiarly  important  in  follow- 
ing geological  structure  and  vein-formations  in  the  deeps  of  the 
earth.  The  mathematical  work  should  be  made  familiar  by 
numerous  applications  to  concrete  cases  in  which  numerical  re- 
sults should  be  insisted  upon.  In  this  connection  it  is  particu- 
larly important  that  the  engineer  should  be  made  to  realize 
that  the  most  important  part  of  his  numerical  result  is  the  po- 
sition of  the  decimal  point,  and  only  after  that,  the  value  of  the 
first  significant  figure.  Mathematical  instructors  too  often  ne- 
glect this,  to  the  engineer,  most  vital  matter.  The  sense  of  it 
should  be  made  instinctive.  It  is  much  more  important  that 
mathematical  instruction  should  be  thorough  as  far  as  it  goes 
than  that  it  should  feebly  cover  a  large  territory.  The  subject 
should  be  so  thoroughly  mastered  that  it  comes  to  fit  the  hand 
like  a  well-worn  tool. 

No  man  is  fit  to  teach  mathematics  to  engineers  who  has  not 
had  some  experience  in  its  applications  either  to  engineering, 
to  physics  or  to  astronomy.  For  only  such  a  man  knows  just 
what  to  emphasize  and  what  to  omit,  how  to  sympathize  with, 
and  how  to  inspire  his  students. 

Men  of  prime  ability  in  the  mathematical  faculty  are  abso- 
lutely the  first  essential  in  any  engineering  school.  It  is  won- 

[10] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   989 

derful  how  difficulties  melt  away  like  wax  in  the  fire  with  a 
really  able  mathematical  teacher.  By  such  a  teacher  mathe- 
matics can  be  made  as  interesting  as  a  romance  to  the  average 
man ;  while  it  is  often  regarded  as  hopelessly  difficult  merely 
on  account  of  the  poor  hands  in  which  it  is  placed.  To  make 
new  discoveries  in  the  field  of  mathematics  requires  genius  of 
a  high  order;  but  to  master  all  the  mathematics  necessary  for 
the  intelligent  practice  of  engineering  requires  no  faculties  be- 
yond those  of  a  logical  mind,  a  certain  power  of  imagination, 
and  a  reasonable  degree  of  application.  I  have  always  found 
that  the  students  who  do  well  in  mathematics  do  well  in  every- 
thing else  that  requires  close  thinking. 

Instruction  in  physics  and  in  mathematics  should  go  on  side 
by  side ;  and  the  two  courses  should  be  so  arranged  that  the 
mathematical  principles  may  be  at  once  applied  to  physical 
problems  of  a  useful  nature.  The  importance  of  actual  nu- 
merical results  should  be  always  insisted  upon.  The  student 
should  be  trained  in  the  arts  of  observation  and  in  inductive  as 
well  as  deductive  reasoning.  He  should  acquire  practice  in 
the  theory  of  approximations  and  should  form  the  habit  of 
judging  or  "  weighing  "  his  own  results  and  of  checking  them 
by  independent  methods. 

While  the  whole  field  of  physics  is  important — the  funda- 
mental conceptions  of  analytic  mechanics  (acceleration,  work, 
kinetic  and  potential  energy)  and  their  applications  in  hydrau- 
lics, thermodynamics,  electricity  and  the  like  are  vital,  and  can- 
not be  too  much  emphasized. 

Instruction  in  chemistry  should  be  given  parallel  with  math- 
ematics and  physics.  It  offers  a  fine  training  in  inductive 
reasoning.  Besides  the  usual  courses  in  general  and  analytic 
chemistry,  the  modern  methods  of  physical  chemistry,  as  de- 
veloped by  such  masters  as  Arrhenius,  Ostwald,  Nernst,  and 
Vant  Hoff  should  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  student, 
as  soon  as,  by  his  collateral  training,  he  is  made  able  to  under- 
stand them.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  hope  of  the 
future,  not  only  in  biology,  medicine  and  hygiene,  but  also 
in  physical  geology,  the  science  of  ore-deposits  and  the  art  of 
metallurgy,  lies  in  this  direction. 

Such  subjects  as  drawing,  surveying,  and  mapping  may  also 
be  carried  on  simultaneously  with  mathematics  and  physics, 

[n] 


990   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

each  supplementing  the  other.  Similarly,  assaying  and  miner- 
alogy give  a  new  interest  to  chemical  principles,  to  which  they 
serve  as  useful  applications.  Geology,  itself,  important  as  is  this 
noble  subject,  not  only  through  its  intrinsic  interest,  but  also 
in  its  practical  bearings,  is  really  only  an  application  of  the 
principles  of  physics  and  chemistry  to  the  study  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  earth.  And  it  can  be  mastered  only  by  him  who 
has  this  training  to  build  upon. 

The  same  is  true  of  every  branch  of  engineering.  Each  is, 
only  the  outgrowth  of  the  application  of  the  principles  of  the 
fundamental  physical  sciences  to  the  needs  of  man.  He  who 
has  this  training  has  the  master-key  to  the  door  of  every  in- 
dustry. 

The  necessity  for  thoroughness  in  this  fundamental  work  can- 
not be  too  much  emphasized  in  American  mining-schools. 
The  impetuous  preference  of  young  Americans  for  what  they 
deem  "practical"  is  a  serious  hindrance  to  real  achievement; 
and  the  only  way-  to  remove  it  is  to  convince  them  at  the  very 
start  of  the  power  and  value  of  science.  This  can  best  be  done 
by  leading  them,  from  the  beginning,  to  apply  science  to  some 
useful  purpose.  In  short,  they  must  be  taught  by  experience 
the  truth  of  Ostwald's  saying :  "  The  science  of  to-day  is  the 
practice  of  to-morrow." 

There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  study  of  science  for 
its  own  sake.  We  have  all  sympathized  with  the  sentiment  of 
the  mathematical  professor  who  "  thanked  God  that  he  had 
at  last  discovered  something  that  never  could  be  put  to  any 
practical  use."  Still,  it  is  a  healthful  instinct  that  leads  most 
men  to  estimate  the  value  of  ideas  by  the  use  that  can  be 
made  of  them,  and  whether  we  approve  it  or  not,  the  world 
will  continue  to  do  that,  and  we  may  as  well  adapt  our  plans  to 
the  fact. 

To  the  man  thus  fundamentally  trained  nothing  is  impossible. 
He  may  still  need  to  be  made  familiar  with  the  general  scope  of 
each  of  the  main  branches  of  engineering,  their  relations  to 
each  other,  the  nature  of  the  problems  that  each  is  called  upon 
to  solve,  and  the  leading  methods  which,  in  each  branch,  have 
stood  the  test  of  time;  and  he  should  be  made  sufficiently 
familiar  with  the  literature  of  the  subject  to  know  where  to  go 
for  needed  particulars ;  but  any  attempt  to  cram  his  memory 

[12] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   991 

with  the  details  of  methods  that  may  become  obsolete,  before 
he  is  called  upon  to  use  them,  is  a  distinct  and  fatal  mistake. 

THE  ORGANIZING  FACULTY. 

The  successful  engineer  is  a  creative  artist  in  the  use  of  ma- 
terials and  energy.  In  this  class,  he  stands  first,  who  with  the 
smallest  means  produces  the  greatest  results.  Success  will 
come  most  surely  to  him  who  clearly  sees  the  nature  of  each 
concrete  problem,  and,  from  the  widest  outlook,  chooses  just 
the  right  methods,  materials  and  forces  of  men  and  nature,  to 
bring  his  undertaking  to  a  successful  issue. 

Among  engineers  the  creative  or  organizing  faculty  is  a  nat- 
ural gift  as  rare  as  any  other  kind  of  genius.  But  fortunately 
it  is  a  faculty  most  Americans  have,  at  least  in  embryo,  and  it 
can  be  cultivated.  All  the  work  of  a  mining-school,  whether 
in  the  basal  sciences,  or  in  the  technical  branches,  may  be  util- 
ized to  develop  it.  Instead  of  possessors  of  encyclopedic  eru- 
dition, there  is  needed  a  type  of  man  that  may  mechanically 
remember  less,  but  can  do  more.  Such  a  man  learns  to  analyze 
each  problem  that  comes  before  him ;  when  necessary,  he  runs 
down  the  literature  bearing  upon  it;  selects  the  good;  rejects 
the  bad;  supplies  by  ready  invention  the  missing  link;  decides 
what  must  be  done ; — and  does  it,  cleanly,  rapidly  and  with 
certainty,  while  the  "  encylopedio-maniac  "  is  still  digesting  his 
erudition. 

This  kind  of  training,  repeated  again  and  again  with  every 
subject  studied  in  the  college  course  (at  first  in  small  and  sim- 
ple problems,  later  in  larger  and  more  complicated  ones),  does 
more  to  create  the  engineering  faculty  than  anything  else  that 
can  be  devised.  It  is  only  by  actually  doing  things  that  we 
learn  how  to  do  them.  Action  must  follow  reflection,  and  re- 
flection must  precede  action  for  successful  and  useful  life.  Un- 
less action  follows  reflection,  life  is  "  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale 
cast  of  thought."  Unless  reflection  precedes  action  we  have 
all  the  ills  that  follow  impetuosity,  of  which  anarchy  is  the  final 
and  the  bitter  fruit.  From  this  point  of  view  the  training  of 
engineers  has  a  moral  effect  on  the  whole  body  politic,  since  it 
tends  to  create  a  solid,  well-balanced  element  in  the  commu- 
nity. Nothing  develops  a  good  man  sooner  than  responsibility, 
which  forces  not  only  reflection,  but  action  also.  And  the 

[13] 


992   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

sense  of  power  that  comes  with  the  successful  exercise  of  the 
creative  faculties  in  the  engineering  arts  is  one  of  the  purest 
and  keenest  pleasures  of  which  our  nature  is  capable. 

The  greatest  service  those  in  charge  of  the  higher  technical 
branches  of  the  mining-school  can  render  their  students,  is  to 
show  them  how  to  apply  their  scientific  knowledge  to  such 
practical  problems  as  come  before  them.  He  who  can  do  this 
for  his  students,  and  can  give  them  a  taste  of  that  sense  of  power 
that  comes  from  a  mastery  of  the  forces  of  nature,  can  trust 
them  to  go  the  rest  of  the  road  without  a  finger-post  to  point 
the  way. 

PERSONAL  CONTACT  WITH  WORKING-CONDITIONS. 

I  have  said  that  the  mining  engineer  should  learn  to  see 
clearly  the  problems  that  he  must  solve;  that  he  must  be 
familiar  with  the  materials  and  the  forces,  not  only  of  nature, 
but  of  human  nature  with  which  he  must  work.  How  shall 
he  gain  this  knowledge  ?  There  is  only  one  way  :  To  become 
familiar  with  them  by  actual  contact. 

Should  this  experience  come  before,  during  or  after  the 
college  course  ?  It  is  most  useful  when  it  comes  in  all  three 
ways.  But  coming  only  after  the  college  course,  it  is  altogether 
too  late.  Before  that  course,  it  can  be  usually  gained  only  at 
the  sacrifice  of  that  general  training,  particularly  in  the  lan- 
guages and  the  humanities,  that  is  so  important  to  us  all ;  and, 
moreover,  before  college-age  the  student  is  usually  physically 
too  immature  to  undertake  such  work.  For  these  reasons  it  is 
usually  best  to  let  this  experience  begin  with  entrance  into  the 
mining-school.  In  each  college  year,  as  commonly  arranged, 
from  three  to  four  months  are  given  to  vacations,  which,  oc- 
curring at  regular  periods  in  summer  and  winter,  are  admirably 
adapted  to  a  progressive  course  of  practical  work  in  surveying, 
mining  and  metallurgy,  in  which  the  student  can  familiarize 
himself  with  practical  conditions  in  different  localities.  For 
the  reasons  already  given,  this  work  should  begin  with  the 
school  course,  and  be  carried  on  progressively,  at  regular  inter- 
vals, with  the  theoretical  work.  It  is  thus  practicable  for  the 
student  to  gain  nearly  a  year  of  experience  in  a  considerable 
range  of  methods.  He  is  thus  in  a  position  to  determine  his 
own  fitness  for  the  work ;  to  learn  the  branches  for  which  he  is 

[14] 


PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINING    OF    MINING    ENGINEERS.       993 

best  adapted,  and  for  which  there  is  most  demand;  and  to 
make  acquaintances  that  will  be  useful  to  him  afterwards.  If 
he  shows  aptitude  for  the  work,  he  is  reasonably  certain  of 
finding  the  place  for  which  he  is  suited;  and  if  he  does  not,  he 
can  adjust  himself  to  some  other  calling  without  further  waste 
of  time. 

The  importance  of  this  training  for  the  mining  engineer  is 
greater  than  in  any  other  branch  of  engineering;  for  the  con- 
ditions that  he  must  meet  are  entirely  different  from  those  of 
any  other  calling.  But  it  has  been  much  more  difficult  to  secure 
it  under  American  than  under  European  conditions.  Besides, 
the  lack  of  official  connection  bet\veen  the  mines  and  the  mining- 
schools,  there  has  been  a  strong  prejudice  against  college-stu- 
dents on  the  part  of  practical  men.  This  is  partly  due  to  ex- 
perience with  men  trained  exclusively  in  the  old  classical  course, 
and  almost  helpless  in  practical  affairs,  because  absolutely  with- 
out knowledge  or  sympathy  with  nature.  But  it  is  also  partly 
due  to  the  self-assertion,  flippancy  and  conceit  of  which  young 
just  out  of  college  are  often  guilty. 


THE  "  MINING-LABORATORY." 

Several  solutions  have  been  proposed  to  meet  this  difficulty. 
The  first  and  most  original  is  the  so-called  mining-laboratory, 
perfected  through  the  pioneer  work  of  Prof.  R.  H.  Richards  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  This  has  since  be- 
come a  prominent  characteristic  of  American  mining-schools 
generally,  and  is  now  being  adopted  in  Europe.  According  to 
this  plan,  the  leading  operations  of  crushing,  concentrating  and 
working  ores  are  executed  by  the  students  on  a  small  working- 
scale  in  the  laboratories  of  the  school  itself.  In  this  way  the 
schools  have  become  partly  independent  of  the  mines,  so  far  as 
the  study  of  metallurgy  and  ore-dressing  are  concerned.  In 
purely  mining  practice  the  problem  is  more  difficult.  I  have 
for  ten  years,  with  some  success,  made  an  attempt  in  this  direc- 
tion, so  far  as  rock-drilling  and  blasting  are  concerned.  For 
this  purpose,  a  mining-laboratory  has  been  provided,  in  which 
the  operations  of  sharpening,  hardening  and  tempering  drills, 
and  the  single-  and  double-hand  drilling  of  blast-holes,  as  well 
as  machine-drilling,  are  illustrated  on  a  working-scale.  Later, 
with  the  aid  of  an  experienced  miner,  the  operations  of  blast- 

[15] 


994   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

ing  are  conducted  by  the  students  in  a  neighboring  quarry.  In 
the  new  mining  building,  provided  for  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia by  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  Hearst,  it  is  proposed  to  ex- 
tend this  work,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  other  branches.  These 
devices  have  all  proved  very  useful  in  familiarizing  students 
with  important  current  methods,  under  conditions  where  they 
may  be  controlled  and  studied,  in  detail,  even  better  than  in 
the  hurly-burly  of  practice.  The  mining-laboratory  is  one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  efforts  of  American  schools  to  adjust 
themselves  to  their  environment. 

THE  SUMMER  SCHOOL  OF  PRACTICAL  MINING. 

But,  helpful  as  this  method  has  proved  to  be,  it  still  fails  to 
bring  the  student  face  to  face  with  the  actual  conditions  of 
mining  practice.  The  next  important  step  was  taken  by  Prof. 
Henry  S.  Munroe,  of  the  Columbia  School  of  Mines.  For 
many  years  he  has  devoted  much  labor,  with  notable  foresight, 
judgment,  tact  and  discrimination,  to  the  system  now  known  as 
the  Summer  School  of  Practical  Mining.  To  him,  more  than 
to  any  other  one  man,  we  owe  this  very  useful  adjunct,  which 
has  been  adopted,  with  various  modifications,  by  most  Ameri- 
can mining-schools.  It  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  geological  ex- 
cursion, so  long  practiced  in  German  mining-schools.  But  here 
it  has  been  made  to  comprise  the  study,  by  a  body  of  students, 
under  the  direction  of  their  professors,  of  the  leading  opera- 
tions of  mining,  dressing  and  working  ores.  One  or  more 
mining  districts  and  several  mines  are  visited,  during  a  trip  of 
a  month  or  more.  Surveys  are  made ;  sketches  and  notes  are 
taken;  and  the  student  begins  to  acquire  a  first-hand  knowl- 
edge of  many  conditions  which  he  must  afterwards  meet. 

An  interesting  modification  of  this  method  has  just  been  at- 
tempted jointly,  at  the  suggestion  of  Prof.  John  Hays  Ham- 
mond, of  the  Sheffield  School,  and  under  the  direction  of  Prof. 
H.  S.  Munroe,  of  Columbia,  by  the  mining-schools  of  Colum- 
bia, Colorado,  Harvard,  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, and  Yale.  It  consists  in  hiring  a  mine  for  the  summer, 
and  putting  the  students  at  work  under  proper  direction  at  the 
various  operations  of  practical  mining.  In  this  way  the  mine 
for  the  time  being  is  turned  into  a  sort  of  school  for  the  young 
men.  This  change  certainly  has  many  advantages.  It  comes 

[16] 


PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINING    OF    MINING    ENGINEERS.       995 

as  near  the  European  conditions  as  is  possible  in  America.  It 
enables  the  operations  of  the  mine  to  be  subordinated  for  the 
time  being  to  the  needs  of  instruction.  This,  for  beginners,  is 
certainly  a  great  advantage.  The  method  is,  however,  an  ex- 
pensive one ;  and  several  years  of  experience  are  necessary  be- 
fore it  can  be  finally  judged. 

There  is  another  modification  of  the  Summer  School  idea, 
perhaps  even  more  difficult  of  general  application,  with  which  I 
have  had  the  most  experience,  and  from  which  I  hope  much  in 
the  future.  I  began  by  visiting  with  my  students  various  min- 
ing districts  each  year ;  but  I  found  in  this  plan  not  only  many 
advantages,  but  also  many  serious  difficulties.  One  of  the  most 
fundamental  of  the  latter  was,  that  there  is  an  important  ele- 
ment which  a  man  does  not  get  by  merely  looking  on.  He 
often  thinks  he  understands  a  thing  that  he  sees  another  do; 
but  such  superficial  knowledge  is  not  to  be  trusted.  It  may 
suffice  for  amateurs  and  dilletanti ;  but  real  professional  knowl- 
edge and  power  are  not  so  obtained.  It  leads  to  that  false  sense 
of  knowledge  that  makes  practical  men  so  disgusted  with  the 
man  just  out  of  college.  It  is  the  thorough,  ingrained  mastery 
which  long  familiarity  with  his  work  has  given  the  practical 
man  that  makes  him  superior  in  any  emergency  to  the  mere 
"  looker-on  in  Venice."  Moreover,  traveling  with  a  large  body 
of  students  tends  to  emphasize  the  difference  between  the  stu- 
dents and  the  miners,  and  to  make  each  party  self-conscious, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  antagonistic.  When  many  students 
travel  together,  they  carry  with  them  the  college-atmosphere, 
which  is  the  very  thing  they  need  most  to  get  away  from,  in 
their  vacations.  It  is  only  when  such  a  body  of  students  is  so 
diluted  by  dispersal  among  a  large  number  of  mines  and  miners 
who  are  working  and  not  playing  at  mining,  that  they  can  be 
made  to  realize  that  they  are  not  "the  whole  thing;"  then, 
and  then  only,  are  they  in  a  position  to  derive  any  real  benefit 
from  their  experience. 

These  views  were  gradually  forced  upon  me,  as  they  doubt- 
less have  been  forced  on  others,  by  a  study  of  results.  More- 
over, as  the  number  of  students  in  the  classes  increased,  I 
found  it  more  and  more  difficult  to  secure  accommodations  for 
them  in  any  but  a  few  large  mining-centers.  This  greatly  lim- 
ited the  practicable  scope  and  variety  of  the  work. 

[17] 


996   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

But  the  cause  that  finally  decided  me  to  make  a  change  was 
the  lack  of  means,  among  some  of  the  best  students,  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  such  trips,  in  addition  to  those  of  the  college  course. 
Some  of  these  men  asked  to  be  permitted  to  work  for  wages, 
instead  of  attending  the  summer  school.  This  was  done  in 
certain  cases ;  and  I  found  at  once  such  an  improvement  in  the 
subsequent  work  of  these  students  that  I  decided  to  alter  my 
general  plan  accordingly. 

The  method,  as  thus  far  worked  out,  is  to  require  that  each 
student  shall  spend  at  least  a  month  underground  in  the  study 
of  practical  mining.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  most  of  the  students 
thus  spend  from  six  to  eight  months  during  their  college 
course,  and  many  of  them  even  more.  Each  must  prepare  a 
well-written  account  of  his  experiences,  together  with  an  essay, 
on  a  subject  chosen  by  himself  from  among  those  that  interested 
him  most.  These  papers  are  read  before  the  whole  class  and 
are  discussed  and  criticized  by  all.  Many  of  them  have  been 
extremely  interesting  and  instructive. 

The  students  are  not  required  to  work  for  wages,  and  are  even 
discouraged  from  doing  so,  unless  they  are  physically  mature, 
and  have  some  familiarity  with  the  wrork.  But,  all  are  strongly 
urged  to  attempt  this  before  they  graduate.  Most  of  them 
need  very  little  encouragement;  in  fact,  they  take  to  it  as  natu- 
rally as  ducks  to  water.  There  is  a  time  in  the  development 
of  a  young  man  when  hard  work  seems  to  be  a  physical  neces- 
sity— an  assertion  of  his  manhood.  It  has  even  come  to  pass 
among  us,  that  the  young  man  who,  from  physical  or  other 
disability,  does  not  do  so,  loses  caste  among  his  fellows. 

There  is  of  course  a  certain  disadvantage  in  working  for 
wages.  A  man  has  to  do  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again 
and  is  usually  too  tired  to  think  much  while  doing  it.  But 
this  objection  is  easily  removed;  for  when,  by  a  month  or 
more  of  hard  work,  a  man  has  established  himself  and  paid  his 
way,  it  is  very  easy  for  him  to  take  further  time  at  his  own 
expense  to  get  a  general  view  of  the  work  as  a  whole.  Some 
men  are  of  course  physically  unable  to  perform  manual  labor 
for  wages.  But,  unless  they  are  unusually  well  adapted  for 
the  profession  in  other  ways,  such  bodily  weakness  is  generally 
an  indication  that  they  had  better  adopt  a  less  strenuous  oc- 
cupation. I  have  never  found  that  the  men  have  been  lacking 

[18] 


PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINING    OF    MINING    ENGINEERS.       997 

in  mental  grasp  from  having  to  work ;  though  naturally  one 
cannot  do  hard  labor  and  take  voluminous  notes  on  the  same 
day. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  certain  great  advantages  in 
working  for  wages.  It  gives  a  man  a  just  self-confidence,  as 
nothing  else  can.  He  feels  that  no  matter  where  he  may  be 
he  can  hold  his  own  among  men  as  a  man.  He  learns  the 
point  of  view  of  the  working-miner,  and  how  to  win  his  confi- 
dence and  respect.  He  gains  an  inside  knowledge  of  the  errors 
and  successes  of  mine-administration.  He  comes  to  know  the 
meaning  of  "  a  day's  work,"  the  tricks  and  subterfuges  by  which 
inefficient  workmen  seek  to  evade  doing  their  duty,  and  the 
way  to  treat  such  cases  without  unnecessary  friction.  Such  an 
experience  is  sure  to  prove  invaluable,  when,  as  he  grows  older, 
he  is  himself  entrusted  with  the  management  of  men.  He  will 
be  more  likely  to  know  how  to  avoid  unnecessary  conflicts  with 
his  men  from  having  himself  "  borne  the  heat  and  the  burden 
of  the  day." 

As  a  rule,  men  without  previous  experience  are  put  first  at 
loading  and  tramming  cars,  and  later,  at  single-  or  double- 
hand  drilling,  or  as  helpers  on  a  machine-drill;  while  in  small 
mines  they  often  have  experience  at  timbering  or  at  the  pumps. 
Many  of  the  men  are  really  able  to  earn  full  wages  as  miners, 
before  they  get  through.  Often,  when  hard  pressed  for  re- 
sources, they  work  a  year,  or  even  two  years,  underground, 
thus  earning  enough  to  pay  their  way  through  college.  This 
seems  rarely  expedient,  except  in  cases  of  necessity.  But  there 
are  some  cases  in  which  an  excess  of  animal  spirits  finds  in 
such  a  rustication  a  natural  outlet,  and  the  man  is  really  made 
over  again  by  such  an  experience. 

The  men  are  advised  not  to  go  in  groups,  but  usually  in  pairs, 
since,  in  case  of  illness  or  accident,  a  faithful  "  pardner  "  is  a 
great  source  of  comfort.  They  are  also  advised  to  scatter  in  a 
thin  skirmish-line  over  the  whole  mining  region  west  of  the 
Rockies.  Some  go  as  far  south  as  Mexico,  others  find  their 
way  to  Cape  Nome  and  the  Klondike.  Thus,  like  bees  from 
the  hive,  they  scatter  over  a  wide  area ;  each  brings  back  honey 
of  a  slightly  different  flavor;  and  all  benefit  by  this  richer 
store. 

Many  difficulties  were  encountered,  particularly  at  the  begin- 

[19] 


998   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

ning,  in  carrying  out  this  plan.  Many  still  remain  to  be  over- 
come before  it  can  be  perfected.  It  depends  for  success,  not 
only  on  the  goodwill  of  the  miner  and  the  mine-owner,  but 
also  upon  the  discretion  and  tact  of  the  student.  I  have  always 
found  the  miner,  and  nearly  alwrays  the  mine-owner,  willing  to 
help  any  young  man  of  good  physique  and  good  nature  who 
was  not  overcome  with  a  sense  of  his  own  great  knowledge  and 
importance.  But,  when  a  very  young  man  sets  out,  unasked, 
to  show  another  man,  old  enough  to  be  his  father,  how  to  run 
a  mine,  there  is  naturally  trouble, — as  there  ought  to  be.  For 
the  first  lesson  a  young  man  has  to  learn,  is  the  necessity  of 
adapting  himself  to  his  surroundings,  and  of  fitting  himself  into 
his  place  in  the  greater  mechanism ;  and,  until  he  learns  this, 
his  lot  is  likely  to  prove  rougher  in  the  mining  world  than  any- 
where else. 

There  is  much  to  justify  the  prejudice  against  a  man  who 
goes  to  college  simply  to  escape  doing  his  share  of  the  world's 
work.  Consequently,  I  have  advised  my  students  never  to  ask 
for  work  because  they  were  college  students,  but  simply  because 
they  were  able  and  willing  to  earn  what  they  were  paid.  In 
short,  I  have  advised  them  to  secure  in  their  vacations  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  "  Wanderjahren  "  of  the  German  apprentice. 
By  scattering  over  a  wide  territory  they  are  absorbed  very 
naturally,  and,  as  a  rule,  without  much  difficulty.  Some  of 
them  have  learned  hard  lessons  not  down  in  books,  but  it  has 
done  them  good. 

The  men  are  all  advised  as  to  the  principal  precautions  to  be 
taken  to  preserve  their  health,  the  dangers  they  will  have  to 
meet  and  how  to  meet  them.  They  are  plainly  told  that  unless 
they  are  ready  to  take  the  hard  chances  of  the  miners'  life  they 
had  better  choose  some  other  occupation. 

Among  more  than  a  thousand  students  who  have  participated 
in  this  work  during  the  last  fifteen  years  there  have  been  but 
two  serious  accidents.  Both  of  these  were  fatal.  The  victims 
were  young  men  who  had  been  working  for  nearly  a  year  in 
the  endeavor  to  earn  enough  money  to  pay  their  way  through 
college.  One  was  caught  in  a  cave.  The  other,  in  firing  a 
blast,  had  his  candle  blown  out  by  the  spitting  fuse,  and,  in 
the  darkness,  was  unable  to  reach  a  place  of  safety.  But  these 
very  accidents  have  served  to  convince  the  mining  public  that 

[20] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   999 

the  California  boys  were  enough  in  earnest  to  face  the  dangers 
of  the  miner's  life. 

This  attempt  at  a  solution  of  the  problem  is  not  presented 
as  a  general  one ;  it  is  probably  better  adapted  to  western  than 
to  eastern  mining  conditions.  It  can  only  be  applied  when 
there  exist  a  large  number  of  mining  camps  within  easy  reach 
of  the  mining-school.  Its  best  feature  is,  that  it  falls  in  with 
the  American  idea  of  free  initiative.  Moreover,  it  serves  ad- 
mirably to  select  the  fit  and  reject  the  unfit  without  loss  of 
time.  It  also  automatically  adjusts  those  questions  of  supply 
and  demand  that  are  so  hard  to  settle. 

In  spite  of  its  many  imperfections,  the  system  is  beginning 
to  bear  fruit.  The  opposition  to  college  men  is  growing  grad- 
ually less.  It  is  found  that  most  of  them  are  in  earnest,  and 
are  willing  and  able  to  work,  and  that  some  of  them  have  abil- 
ity. Before  the  term  of  work  is  over  a  man  is  frequently  told : 
"  When  you  have  finished  college,  I  may  have  something  for 
you  to  do."  Many  a  man  has  dropped  in  this  way  into  just 
the  place  for  which  he  was  adapted. 

In  short,  if  the  college  man  can  overcome  the  prejudice 
against  him  that  often  exists  all  too  justly  among  men  of  affairs, 
by  showing  that  he  really  is  a  man,  modest,  willing  and  capable ; 
his  education  will  have  its  chance  to  count  in  the  end,  as  it  does 
more  easily  at  the  beginning,  under  old  world  conditions.  The 
only  chance  to  make  his  start  that  the  American  mining  student 
has,  is  to  meet  the  practical  man  on  his  own  ground.  He  can 
always  do  this  if  he  has  the  courage  to  break  the  ice.  It  is 
better  and  easier  for  him  to  do  this  before  he  graduates  than 
afterwards. 

PHYSICAL  AND  MORAL  SOUNDNESS  AND  THE  CO-OPERATIVE 

SPIRIT. 

Experience  on  these  lines  has  emphasized  the  importance  to 
the  mining  student  of  a  sound  and,  if  possible,  a  robust  phy- 
sique. By  this  I  do  not  mean  heavy  muscles  merely,  but  essen- 
tial soundness  of  the  vital  organs,  particularly  those  of  diges- 
tion, circulation  and  breathing,  and  also  the  senses  of  sight  and 
hearing.  Important  as  these  possessions  are  to  all,  to  the  mining 
engineer  they  are  indispensable.  An  early  physical  examina- 
tion by  an  experienced  physician  should  reject  all  defective  can- 

[21] 


1000   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

didates  as  rigorously  as  is  done  in  the  army  and  navy.  This 
should  be  followed  by  a  thorough  physical  training,  whose  aim 
should  be  the  production  of  a  sound  and  healthy  man.  Some 
instruction  in  the  fundamentals  of  hygiene,  the  precautions 
necessary  in  the  use  of  food  and  water,  the  precautions  to  be 
taken  in  malarial  regions  and  some  knowledge  of  the  "  first  aid 
to  the  injured,"  are  very  useful  to  men  who  must  often  serve  as 
leaders  of  a  forlorn  hope  in  a  strange  land. 

Even  more  important  than  physical  soundness  is  moral  sound- 
ness. It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  mining  engineers  not  only 
see  the  truth,  but  speak  it.  Scientific  training,  when  thorough, 
always  develops  one  important  moral  trait.  It  helps  to  elevate 
the  love  of  truth  into  a  religion.  This  is  its  greatest  moral 
service  to  society. 

In  this  connection  we  are  all  under  indebtedness  to  the  late 
Mr.  A.  M.  Wellington  for  his  able  articles  on  "  The  Ideal  En- 
gineering School."2 

Speaking  of  the  young  enginneer,  he  says :  "  He  must  be 
truthful  and  worthy  of  trust,  must  mean  what  he  says  and  say 
what  he  means.  If  he  cannot  do  this  he  must  be  silent."  And 
again  :  "  All  'men  whose  advancement  depends  on  those  above 
them  must  not  only  be,  but  also  seem,  faithful  to  those  above 
them." 

He  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  lawyer,  the  physician 
and,  to  some  extent  also,  the  clergyman,  depends  for  his  success 
almost  entirely  upon  his  individual  knowledge  and  intellectual 
abilities.  Such  a  man  may  or  may  not  be  personally  agreeable 
to  those  for  whom  he  works ;  it  is  his  knowledge  and  his  tech- 
nical skill  that  we  wish  to  utilize  in  an  emergency.  These  are 
his  own  possession,  and  he  can  utilize  them  unaided  and  with- 
out the  co-operation  of  others. 

But  with  the  engineer  this  is  not  the  case.  His  work  cannot 
be  done  except  through  the  friendly  aid,  not  only  of  many  en- 
gineering co-workers,  but  also  through  the  help  of  capital  and 
labor,  the  two  most  difficult  elements  in  our  civilization.  From 
the  inception  of  the  original  idea  to  its  final  completion,  men 
and  money,  brains  and  brawn,  nature  and  human  nature,  must 
work  together  without  friction  for  a  common  purpose. 

2  Engineering  News,  ,  1893. 

[22] 


PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINING    OF    MINING    ENGINEERS.       1001 

The  young  engineer  must  win  the  confidence  of  his  superiors 
by  a  faithfulness  and  loyalty,  free  from  subservience ;  he  must 
secure  the  good-will  and  liking  of  his  equals  by  frankness  and 
openness  of  nature ;  he  must  command  the  respect  of  his  sub- 
ordinates by  his  evident  mastery  of  his  business,  his  sense  of 
justice,  his  freedom  from  petty  meanness,  and  his  fearlessness 
in  the  discharge  of  duty.  The  man  who  cannot  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  any  one  of  these  three  relations,  no  matter  what 
his  knowledge  and  technical  skill,  is  sure  to  fail.  And  because 
they  possess  these  qualities  in  a  high  degree,  many  men  of  very 
ordinary  abilities  often  succeed  as  engineers,  when  men  of  supe- 
rior genius  lamentably  fail. 

When  men  must  work  together  day  and  night,  side  by  side, 
in  intimate  personal  contact,  where  relations  of  subordination 
and  command  necessarily  must  exist,  there  must  be  no  friction. 
Even  a  slight  uncouthness  of  nature,  or  rudeness  of  manner, 
objectionable  personal  habits,  or  lack  of  tact,  become  simply 
unbearable  at  such  close  quarters. 

All  this  is  most  emphatically  true  of  the  mining  engineer. 
No  men  except  soldiers,  sailors,  explorers  and  astronomers  are 
subject  to  such  a  strain  on  their  endurance. 

As  was  also  pointed  out  by  Mr.  "Wellington,  the  necessity  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  social  graces  and  amenities  of  life,  for 
habits  of  personal  neatness,  for  self-control  and  uniform  good 
nature  under  conditions  of  hardship  and  privation,  have  always 
been  recognized  as  essential  qualities  in  the  army  and  the  navy. 
That  it  is  possible  to  cultivate  these  qualities,  even  in  the  most 
heterogeneous  material,  is  evidenced  by  the  success  of  our  mili- 
tary and  naval  academies  in  producing  them  in  the  average 
American  youth.  The  raw  material  they  have  to  work  on  is 
not  different  from  that  which  goes  to  our  engineering  schools. 
But  the  results  they  attain  in  this  respect  are  so  decidedly  bet- 
ter that  there  is  no  comparison.  In  most  engineering  schools 
these  important  qualities  are  simply  ignored,  and  no  attempt  is 
made  to  cultivate  them. 

Where,  as  in  many  of  the  so-called  "  Land  Grant  Colleges," 
a  certain  amount  of  military  instruction  and  discipline  is  re- 
quired, the  means  exist  by  which  these  qualities  may  be  culti- 
vated to  some  extent.  In  the  University  of  California  such  is 
the  case,  and  I  have  always  found  that  the  mining  students 

[23] 


1002   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

who,  by  attention  to  such  matters,  succeed  as  officers,  invaria- 
bly take  high  rank  in  their  profession  in  executive  positions. 
It  is  one  of  the  few  chances  men  in  college  have  of  learning 
the  arts  of  controlling  themselves  and  others.  There  is  no 
agent  so  effective  in  forcing  men  to  realize  the  means  and  ad- 
vantages of  co-operation  as  rigid  military  discipline.  For  the 
wars  and  struggles  of  our  race  since  primeval  times  have  pol- 
ished and  perfected  this  method  till  it  has  reached  a  high  state 
of  efficiency.  But  it  is  difficult  for  engineering  schools  to  give 
the  time  and  attention  to  it  that  is  possible  in  a  purely  military 
school. 

Another  important  means  of  reaching  this  end  is  to  be  found 
in  all  athletic  sports  in  which,  as  in  base-ball,  boating  and  espe- 
cially in  foot-ball,  team  work  plays  an  important  part. 

Organizing  students  into  parties  for  surveying  and  other 
field  and  laboratory  investigations,  where  each  in  turn  acts  as 
aid  and  as  chief,  is  another  effective  means.  In  short,  any 
agency  that  develops  the  instinct  of  co-operation,  of  team  work, 
of  the  faculties  of  self-control,  courtesy,  fidelity  and  faithfulness, 
will  prove  effective.  It  will  be  more  difficult  to  secure  these 
qualities  in  America  than  it  is  abroad,  because  of  the  strong 
instincts  of  individualism  and  self-assertion  that  are  such 
marked  characteristics  of  American  youth.  Nevertheless,  the 
uniform  success  of  Annapolis  and  West  Point  in  these  matters 
testifies  to  its  possibility.  There  is  great  room  for  improve- 
ment along  these  lines  in  all  American  engineering  schools. 

SUNDRY  MINOR  ESSENTIALS. 

There  are  also  certain  minor  matters,  too  often  neglected  by 
both  students  and  professors,  which  are  peculiarly  important 
to  the  young  engineer  in  his  first  work  after  graduation,  and  all 
of  which  can  easily  be  mastered  in  college ;  such  as  :  neatness  in 
drawing,  mapping  and  lettering,  certainty  and  rapidity  in  nu- 
merical work ;  in  the  measurement  of  angles  and  distances  in 
surveying;  and  in  sampling,  assaying  and  the  common  methods 
of  analysis.  At  first,  accuracy  is  more  important  than  speed. 
But  the  latter  is,  in  practice  only,  less  important,  and  should 
be  insisted  on  from  the  beginning.  A  sound  judgment  on  the 
degree  of  precision  needed  for  the  particular  purpose  in  ques- 
tion is  also  indispensable.  The  student  should  be  sure,  on  the 

[24] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS.   1003 

one  hand,  that  his  errors  do  not  exceed  this  limit,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  he  does  not  waste  time  in  needless  refinement 
when  approximations  suffice.  He  should  form  the  habit  of 
always  checking  his  measurements  and  calculations  by  at  least 
two  independent  methods.  The  only  way  to  insure  this  stand- 
ard of  accuracy  and  dispatch  is  to  hold  him  to  the  hard  stand- 
ard that  he  will  have  to  meet  in  practice,  and  to  make  him 
realize  that  for  carelessness  or  blunders  no  explanations  can  be 
accepted.  Rigid  discipline  on  these  lines  should  begin  in  the 
mathematical,  physical  and  chemical  departments,  and  should 
run  right  through  the  higher  technical  work  with  increasing 
severity.  Tolerance  of  blunders  is  cruelty  in  the  end. 

GENERAL  TRAINING. 

The  mining  engineer  needs  a  certain  fundamental  training 
in  economics,  by  reason  of  his  position  as  an  intermediary  be- 
tween capital  and  labor ;  his  necessary  dealings  with  merchants 
and  contractors ;  and  his  handling  of  questions  as  to  the  valua- 
tion of  mining-properties  and  the  financing  of  mines.  Besides 
the  broad  questions  of  money,  interest,  wages  and  other  lead- 
ing topics  of  economics,  it  is  also  important  that  he  should  be 
familiar  with  the  laws  of  specifications  and  contracts,  of  ordi- 
nary business  usage,  the  science  of  accounting,  and  the  law  of 
mines  and  water. 

The  broader  the  general  culture  with  which  a  student  comes 
to  the  mining-school,  the  better.  The  minimum  entrance  re- 
quirement should  include  some  familiarity  with  general  his- 
tory, with  the  best  of  English  literature,  and  the  command  of 
a  simple,  clear  and  forcible  English  style.  A  reading  power  of 
the  leading  modern  languages  is  only  less  necessary  than  a 
mastery  of  one's  mother-tongue. 

As  the  training  of  the  mining  engineer  must  of  necessity  be 
chiefly  scientific  and  technical,  its  natural  tendency  is  to  put 
him  somewhat  out  of  sympathy  with  the  gentler  side  of  human 
culture.  It  is  important  to  counteract  this  tendency  by  keep- 
ing him  in  touch  with  the  finer  arts  by  which  life  is  mellowed, 
enriched  and  ennobled. 

Where,  as  is  frequently  the  case  in  America,  the  mining- 
school  is  an  integral  part  of  a  great  University  whose  scope 
includes  all  the  activities  of  our  nature,  this  end  is  easily 

[25] 


1004   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

and  naturally  reached  by  the  association  of  mining  students 
with  other  students  who  are  devoting  their  lives  to  the  arts, 
to  philosophy  and  letters.  The  student  is  thus  forced  to  be- 
come familiar  with  a  wider  outlook.  Some  touch  with  one 
of  the  finer  arts,  such  as  music,  painting  or  sculpture,  that  will 
bring  out  the  innate  love  of  ideal  beauty  that  exists  in  every 
man,  is  necessary  to  a  well-balanced  nature.  Perhaps  the  most 
important  of  these  influences  is  the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for 
general  literature,  whose  possession  is  a  refreshment  to  the  soul. 
The  mining  engineer  who  possesses  it  takes  with  him  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  an  inspiration  that  must  make  him  an  agency 
of  moral  and  spiritual  uplift  wherever  he  may  be. 

LOCATION  OF  MINING-SCHOOLS. 

Which  is  the  better  location  for  a  mining-school : — a  mining- 
center,  or  a  commercial  one  ?  Successful  mining-schools  have 
been  established  in  the  older  countries  in  both  situations ;  Frei- 
berg, Clausthal,  Przibram  and  Leoben  are  examples  of  the 
former ;  and  Paris,  Berlin  and  London  of  the  latter.  Histori- 
cally, the  first  to  be  established  were  in  the  mining-centers, 
which  have  the  advantage  of  surrounding  the  student  with  a 
professional  atmosphere,  in  which  all  the  activities  and  ambi- 
tions of  life  gather  about  this  one  industry.  When  means  of 
communication  were  poor,  such  a  location  was  almost  indis- 
pensable. 

But  such  a  location  tends  to  make  the  training  of  the  min- 
ing engineer  provincial  when  it  should  be  universal.  More- 
over, even  in  Europe,  an  end  comes  at  last  to  a  mining  district, 
and  the  mining-school  becomes  stranded  in  a  dying  community. 
Some  of  the  most  famous  of  the  European  schools  are  already 
approaching  this  condition,  which  yearly  becomes  more  des- 
perate. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  modern  tendency  is  in  the  op- 
posite direction.  The  most  permanent  of  human  institutions 
are  the  great  commercial  centers,  made  so  by  natural  physio- 
graphic features,  that  facilitate  intercourse,  which  is  the  life 
of  trade.  The  capital  that  develops  mines  comes  from  these 
centers,  and  the  profits  from  the  mines  return  to  them.  The 
enterprise  that  undertakes  great  ventures  has  its  source  there, 

[26] 


PRESENT  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAINING  OP  MINING  ENGINEERS.   1005 

and  thence,  confining  itself  to  no  national  boundaries,  reaches 
out  to  grasp  the  natural  wealth  of  the  world. 

It  is  becoming  more  and  more  important  that  a  mining- 
school  should  be  located  at  the  heart  of  things ;  for  it  needs  to 
be  not  only  permanent,  but  permanently  strong ;  to  maintain 
relations  with  capital  not  less  than  labor ;  and  to  have  a  cosmo- 
politan rather  than  a  provincial  outlook  and  sphere.  It  is  as 
necessary  as  ever  that  the  mining-school  should  be  in  close 
touch  with  many  operating  mines.  But  in  modern  times  this  is 
much  more  easily  effected  from  commercial  than  from  mining- 
centers.  For  these  reasons,  I  believe  that  in  the  near  future 
the  positions  of  commanding  importance  will  be  held  by 
mining- schools  located  near  large  commercial  centers,  particu- 
larly when  these  command  not  one,  but  many  mining  districts. 

OVER-SUPPLY  or  MINING-SCHOOLS  IN  AMERICA. 

In  a  paper  on  "  The  Growth  of  American  Mining-Schools 
and  their  Relation  to  the  Mining  Industry,"  read  at  the  Engi- 
neering Congress  at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  in  1893,3 1 
have  already  called  attention  to  the  relatively  small  proportion 
of  miners  among  the  wage-earners  of  the  United  States.  Ac- 
cording to  the  tenth  census,  the  number  was  only  1.82  per  cent, 
of  the  wage-earners,  or  0.63  per  cent,  of  the  total  population. 
The  eleventh  census 'showed  a  similar  relation.  The  figures  of 
the  twelfth  census  show  the  total  number  of  miners  and  quarry- 
men  to  have  increased  to  1.95  per  cent,  of  the  total  wage-earn- 
ers, or  0.75  per  cent,  of  the  population.  It  is  impossible  to  de- 
termine from  this  report  the  exact  number  engaged  in  metal- 
lurgical work,  but  after  a  careful  study  of  the  data  given,  a  lib- 
eral estimate  for  metallurgical  laborers  shows  that  the  total 
cannot  be  for  both  industries  much  more  than  2.5  per  cent,  of 
the  wage-earners,  or  0.95  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

On  the  basis  of  the  eleventh  census  (which  contained  no 
enumeration  of  mining  or  metallurgical  engineers)  I  estimate 
that  there  could  not  have  been  at  that  time  over  6,000  persons 
in  the  United  States  who  practiced  these  professions.  And 
that  to  keep  up  the  supply  would  require  about  200  new  men 
per  year.  In  the  twelfth  census  the  mining  engineers  were 

3  Trans.,  xxiii.,  444  ;  also,  Transactions  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engi- 
neering Education,  Vol.  I.,  1893. 

[27] 


1006       PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINING    OF    MINING    ENGINEERS. 

enumerated  for  the  first  time  and  the  number  given  is  only 
2,908.  Metallurgical  engineers  are  not  specified;  but  under 
the  head  of  "  Chemists,  Assayers  and  Metallurgists  "  the  num- 
ber is  8,887.  It  is  plain  that  a  liberal  outside  estimate  of  min- 
ing engineers  and  metallurgists  would  be  ten  thousand ;  and  to 
keep  up  the  supply  would  take  about  330  new  men  each  year. 
By  including  assayers,  mine-surveyors,  and  the  various  minor 
officials  of  mining  and  quarry  companies,  who  might  require 
some  technical  training,  this  number  might  possibly  be  doubled 
or  even  trebled.  But  when  we  remember  that  for  many  of 
these  positions  very  little  training  is  required,  and  that  they 
are  open  to  anyone  who  wishes  to  attempt  the  work,  including 
many  mining  students  who  fail  to  graduate,  it  must  be  evident 
that  there  is  a  legitimate  field  for  not  much  over  300  min- 
ing-school graduates  each  year.  In  1893  I  showed  that  there 
already  existed  in  the  United  States  a  much  larger  number  ot 
mining-schools  than  was  really  needed ;  and  the  number  is  now 
much  greater.  The  attendance  at  many  of  these  schools  has 
already  increased  enormously.  At  the  University  of  California, 
for  instance,  the  gain  has  been  nearly  1,400  per  cent,  since 
1887.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  demand  for  mining  engi- 
neers in  America  can  easily  be  supplied  by  the  existing  schools. 
It  would  be  a  distinct  advantage  if  they  could  be  restricted  to 
a  very  much  smaller  number.  Not  more  than  six,  or  at  most 
a  dozen,  favorably  distributed  according  to  the  needs  of  the 
mining  communities,  could  do  all  the  work  demanded  of 
them  much  better  than  a  larger  number.  Under  American 
conditions  no  regulation  but  that  of  natural  competition  is  pos- 
sible. Much  could  be  gained,  however,  if  the  existing  schools 
would  co-operate  to  fix  a  common  standard  for  the  degrees 
given.  "While  no  official  relation  with  the  mines  is  possible, 
the  moral  effect  of  such  a  step  would  be  very  great. 

DEGREES. 

One  of  the  reasons  that  so  little  attention  has  been  paid  in 
America  to  college  degrees  in  the  past  is  the  great  unevenness 
of  the  requirements  for  them  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Wherever  a  degree,  or  its  equivalent,  has  come  to  mean  some- 
thing definite,  as  with  our  military  and  naval  academies,  it  has 
received  full  recognition. 

[28] 


PRESENT    PROBLEMS    IN    TRAINIIj       &F  £3^  3^dS  $$&,       1007 


Still,  there  are  indications  of  a  general  change  in  the  public 
estimate  of  degrees.  This  has  been  most  marked  in  regard  to 
the  degrees  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  and  of  Science.  These 
have  come  to  mean  a  capacity  for  original  investigation  in  some 
branch  of  science  or  letters.  It  would  be  a  distinct  advantage 
to  the  mining-schools,  and  to  the  mining  profession,  if  a  sim- 
ilar definite  meaning  always  went  with  that  of  the  degree  of 
mining  engineer. 

At  present  the  practice  of  American  mining-schools  differs 
greatly  in  this  matter.  Some  give  the  degree  of  mining  engi- 
neer at  the  end  of  a  four  years'  undergraduate  course.  One 
even  gives  it  in  three  years  ;  one  has  attempted  a  five  years' 
course,  but  has  unfortunately  gone  out  of  existence.  Others 
give,  for  much  the  same  amount  of  work,  only  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Science  at  the  end  of  the  undergraduate  course, 
and  reserve  the  degree  of  Mining  Engineer  for  advanced 
work. 

I  am  convinced  that  no  matter  how  excellent  the  course  of  a 
mining-school,  it  is  a  distinct  mistake  to  give  the  degree  of  min- 
ing engineer  on  the  same  basis  as  that  of  the  bachelor's  degree. 
Some  engineering  schools,  recognizing  this  difficulty,  have  at- 
tempted to  institute  as  a  mark  of  greater  attainment  the  absurd 
degree  of  doctor  of  engineering. 

The  highest  degree  given  by  a  mining-school  should  be  that 
of  Mining  Engineer.  This  degree  should  be  put  on  the  same 
basis  as  that  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  or  of  Science.  It  should 
be  confined  to  those  who  have  not  only  mastered  the  funda- 
mental training,  but  have  shown  by  actual  accomplishment  that 
they  possess,  in  addition,  the  precious  qualities  of  initiative  and 
capacity  as  leaders  in  engineering,  and  also  that  maturity  of 
mind  and  character  which  one  naturally  associates  with  the  pro- 
fession of  the  engineer.  If  this  standard  could  be  maintained, 
the  degree  of  Mining  Engineer  from  an  American  mining- 
school,  in  spite  of  its  disconnection  with  government  service, 
would  soon  stand  higher  than  that  of  any  other  country  in  the 
world. 

It  must  be  evident  that  it  is  not  possible  to  crowd  a  com- 
plete technical  education  into  a  four  years'  course,  without  ne- 
glecting the  broad  basal  training  that  is  necessary  for  advanced 
work.  But,  if  some  such  plan  as  I  have  outlined  were  adopted 

[29] 


1008   PRESENT  PROBLEMS  :XNt  TRAINING  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

by  ihe  leading  American  mining-schools,  a  great  advance  would 
be  made. 

A  large  number  of  men  could  then  take  advantage  of  the 
undergraduate  course  which  would  then,  in  a  new  sense,  and 
in  a  much  higher  form,  take  the  place  of  the  Bergschule.  In 
this  school  all  would  receive  the  fundamental  training  neces- 
sary for  the  mining  engineer,  together  with  some  knowledge  of 
the  various  technical  branches.  After  finishing  this  course  of 
four  years,  and  receiving  the  bachelor's  degree,  the  best  thing 
for  all  to  do  would  be,  as  a  rule,  to  plunge  directly  into  the  re- 
alities of  the  mining  life.  All  could  then  step  at  once  into  the 
lower  ranks  of  the  profession.  Most  would  undoubtedly  be 
contented  to  remain  there,  filling  a  useful  place  in  the  general 
scheme,  now  occupied  by  men  without  either  scientific  or  tech- 
nical training;  thus  raising  the  standard  of  the  entire  industry. 

But  the  chosen  few  who  possess  the  creative  faculty  of  the  en- 
gineer should  be  encouraged  to  find  their  special  bent  and  field 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  then  to  throw  their  whole  strength  into 
a  real  mastery  of  the  chosen  specialty.  A  man  is  then  in  a 
position  to  specialize  as  much  as  may  be  necessary  without  be- 
coming narrow.  Three  years  of  mature  work  along  these  spe- 
cial lines,  in  graduate  work,  either  in  college,  or,  under  proper 
conditions,  outside  of  it,  should  lead  to  the  production  of  a 
piece  of  original  work  which  would  justly  entitle  him  to  the 
degree  of  Mining  Engineer. 

Such  a  policy  would  parallel,  without  imitating,  the  methods 
that  have  been  so  successful  in  encouraging  advanced  and  in- 
dependent workers  in  our  Universities.  It  wTould  create  an 
American  Bergakademie  that  would  be  superior  to  anything  of 
the  kind  in  Europe.  And  it  would  secure  for  America,  by  a 
process  of  natural  selection,  a  body  of  mining  engineers  worthy 
of  their  natural  heritage. 


[30] 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


-1890 


C0bl430166 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


